Friday, December 10, 2010

It's a Small Thing

If you’ve diligently read the description of this blog, you’ll notice that there were promises made to our vast audience. Namely, that Isabel and I “celebrate the small things in life”. This post is about one of those small things.

I feel like there’s a sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a tube of toothpaste. It’s an affirmation that you have done your job, kept your teeth clean. It takes a while to finish a tube of toothpaste, it takes hard work and discipline. Recently, I finished one, and it was pretty great. I always squeeze out every last remaining drop (?) because I don’t want to feel like I’m cheating, so I finish it until there’s nothing left, and then have a grand, dramatic moment where I chuck it in the garbage can. I have had no noteworthy athletic achievements, so this is the closest thing I have to a touchdown, a basket, a goal or a home-run.

Logically, it should be a huge disappointment when I have to buy a new tube: the start of a yet another long, exhaustive journey. But no. It’s not disappointing. In fact, starting the new tube may be even more thrilling than ending one. Why? Because look at that tube!

So deliciously plump! And then it’s time to apply the toothpaste: all the colors are in a straight line, they lay side-by-side on the tips of brush. I make sure of this: I slowly apply the toothpaste so that it looks just like the commercial. And sometimes, I even manage to get that playful swirl. You know exactly which one I’m talking about:

That’s when I know it was all worth it. Going through that arduous process of finishing the tube. It was all worth it because of how straight the lines are and because of that swirl. And now I just have to be a trooper until the end; the day of a new tube will come again.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

We are Isabel and Charlotte. We live in Sweden and New York City, respectively. We are friends and we like to think and write, and write what we think. Mostly we like existential thought, and celebrating the small things in life, like cooking salmon and glow-in-the-dark dog leashes.
“There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet.” - Waiting for Godot, S. Beckett.